AND THE NEXT CHAPTER
BEGINS!!!
When we woke up Saturday, a realization hit home. We're really here. In Africa. This is our new home.
It's hard to believe that 3 days earlier we were at AIM headquarters in Atlanta signing documents, dotting "i"s, crossing "t"s, and taking care of final details. By Thursday afternoon as we were preparing to depart from the AIM offices, the air was tingling with excitement and anticipation. The 11 Africa-bound kids were bouncing off the walls. Literally.
Our van shuttle to the airport was classic for a group heading to a third world country. The air conditioning only worked half the time, the other half blowing HOT air! The minor inconvenience wasn’t enough to dampen the high we all felt though. Thanks to your prayers, that incident was the only newsworthy event in our 19 hours of travel to Nairobi!
So … Nairobi. An interesting mixture of Western influence meeting Third World Country. Concrete buildings with bars on the windows, property surrounded by tall concrete walls with security guards manning the gates, but with beautiful landscaping of trees and flowers to soften the coldness. Sharply dressed people talking on cell phones while shopping in a 6 level, modern-looking shopping mall; then stepping outside onto dusty sidewalks and streets with potholes so big you could lose a small car.
Not that potholes stop drivers from driving outrageously fast. Our drive from the airport to the mission guesthouse at 10:30 at night offered little indication of true Nairobi traffic. That came Saturday when we experienced double or triple the traffic (depending if you count the cars making an extra lane where there really isn’t supposed to be one) barreling through intersections and roundabouts where it appears traffic laws are optional and up for personal interpretation. We don’t have the Nairobi Traffic Rhythm yet. We drive to a different beat.
Another caveat of African culture … bartering. Now LaReina is NOT a good barterer. LaReina paid twice as much as she should have for a necklace she was bartering for 20 some years ago. LaReina married a better barterer (that’s a mouthful!) and has not bartered since that woe-some day. So guess who will be doing the shopping? Yep. God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He? This would be a good time to insert prayer for LaReina…
But we didn’t come for the bartering, driving, or culture. We came for the people. Our hosts at the mission guesthouse are polite and helpful as they welcome us and offer a word or two of Swahili to start our learning. “Karibu” means welcome. “Asante” means thank you. Asante, Lord for their patience and understanding as they welcome group after group of foreigners who really don’t know or understand their culture yet.
Sunday we were honored to worship at an open air African church in Nairobi that our AIM AIR friends took us to. We wondered if we would understand the worship and message. We wondered if we would feel out of place now that we are the minority. The worship music was inspiring (a couple of songs in English, a couple in Swahili with translation underneath, and one in a mystery language that we attempted all the same), the pastor delivered a great message that spoke to our hearts (in English and very relevant to our lives … isn’t Scripture amazing to speak to all of us at the same time?!), but what really affected us was the people. As we looked around at this huge group of African people joining us in worship of the One Living God, tears filled our eyes. The beauty of the moment was overwhelming. We are not alone. This is why we came. We are joining the efforts already in motion to reach the unsaved. All of God’s people singing one song.
New encounters are great aren’t they? They stretch and grow who we are and expand our little worlds to see and understand our brothers and sisters better. Lying in bed early in the morning, we hear the Muslim call to prayer in the distance. We pause and think about why it is we love Jesus. It’s a personal question that each of us has their own answer to for how His love, forgiveness, and healing has changed our lives forever. How He has shown us “life to the full”.
Love brought us here. Love will carry us through traffic, bartering, different religions and cultures. We pray that it is Jesus’ love that shines through our faces as we go out each day, and at the end of the day, love that draws more people together to sing His song.
Next stop…Machakos for Africa Based Orientation starting July 16th to August 6th. (Maybe they’ll teach us bartering and driving strategies)
PS We’ll try our best to include pictures as we’re able. It’s for our safety that we don’t appear touristy or flash a fancy camera or phone …
We continually Praise God for the formation of our prayer and financial team. If God has laid on your heart to be a part of this and what He is doing in Africa through us, please respond to this email with your interest. Or simply visit Kingsinafrica. There are always needs to operate in a 3rd world country and unexpected expenses that arise. We would love to share these specific needs with you.
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